Treasured Scrapbooking's Treasure Hunt is still in full swing, and I'm excited to say that I was chosen to move on to Round 4. So, now I can share with you my entry for Round 3. Requirements were to include paint, a handmade flower, ric rac, and journaling that included, "I'd rather..."

I wrote about how I'd rather be at the lake. Of course. Who wouldn't?! And here's my LO:

Piece of Paradise


handmade flower


And I thought I'd share a sneak peek of Color Me Daisy's September kit. I really love it, and can't wait to dive in to it! The colors are rich, bold, and can go in so many different ways!



Other than that, not a whole lot to share. I've got a head cold that's making me feel pretty miserable. So I'm not feeling very sunshine-y today. Lots of sniffles, ear aches, and scratchy throat. No fun.

So I hope you have a better day than me, cause I'm not feeling up to much of anything right now. Just doing some sideline parenting, and that's about it. Til volleyball.

Park pics

So today I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to take the girls to the park. I just can't take my house being destroyed another day. (More on that later. maybe. if I get over my anger.) So off we went. In the midst of pushing them on the swings, I realized that I still had my camera in my purse, so I decided to play with my shutter speed setting.






My girls love to swing. In fact, I'd say it's their favorite playground thing to do. Proof? Today we did the swings 3 different times.

As I was playing around with angles and shutter speed and other "stuff", I decided the lighting was good enough for a little photo shoot, if only I could talk C into it. (You know I have to ask the princess's permission before doing a photo shoot. (dripping with sarcasm)) Lucky for me she agreed!

Here are my favorites:











If you look closely to that last shot, her fingernails bare witness to her recent activities that have made me so angery. Let's just say I didn't paint them. Neither shade is from me. Thus my anger. But that's all I'm sayin for now. Biting my tongue.

After our "photo shoot" we played on the playground equipment. SK wasn't really cooperating, but I got one relatively decent one of her.



Love those wisps of blonde blowin in the wind!

We really should go to the park more often. I think this Fall we just might!

Hope you have a great day!

Tea for Two, and another one too!

Sorry--cheesy title I know. I struggle with coming up with blog post titles. Anybody else have that problem too?

I've got 2 more LOs to share. These are from the Urban Anthology's August kit, "Tea for Two". I'm LOVIN's these papers! In fact I'm having a hard time cutting in to them for fear I'll mess them up!

This first one's a fun little memory I want to remember for a long while. And I title inspiration from the kit's name.

"Tea for two"

These photos were taken about about 11pm on a Saturday night, waaaaay past 2 little girls bedtimes. But they were playing so nicely and so quietly, that all the adults assumed they were asleep. We were totally shocked to find them still awake (dark circles under their eyes), dressed up with princess dresses on top of their pjs, and having a make-shift tea part (notice the "table" is a baby crib turned upside down.) I snapped pictures quickly before we all freaked out that they were still awake that late on a church night!

"Quality Time"

Josh and me on a "date" in B'ham. We actually just went to watch his cousin play tennis, but still that counts, right? I mean, we had the whole hour of drive time to and from the tournament all to ourselves, so that should count for something. We ended up missing the movie we'd planned to see so that we could hang out with his fun tennis-lovin' family. It was a goood day! ;)



Have I mentioned that I'm in LOVE with this October Afternoon paper??? I think this line, Cherry Hill, may be my favorite. But then I think I say that about every line they come out with. And that apple is one of Keri's custom journaling spots that comes with the kit. Cool, huh?!

Well, that's about all. Gotta go get ready for volleyball practice. Story of my life lately. It literally feels like all I so is eat, sleep (some), scrap, and go to practice. I guess I throw in an occassional "chore" too like going to the grocery or doing some laundry, but still....does life ever slow down?!

More to share!

I've got more to share, a few announcements and a sneak peek for ya!

First up, I can now officially post my Treasure Hunt entry for challenge #2. In an attempt to BE in more pictures, the girls and I took a bunch using the self-timer function on my camera. We laughed and giggled, and really had a lot of fun. In fact, Caroline keeps asking to do it again. At one point SK thought she'd take some photos too, and pretended that the XBox controller was a camera. She kept holding it up in the middle of the picture saying, "Say cheeeeez" (which I never tell my kids to do!) And Caroline thought she'd be a "bide" in one of them! hehe! Good times, good times!

"Self-timed shots"


The challenge was to use 4 pp's, 2 colors of CS, an arrow (which I NEVER use), and buttons. The hardest part for me was the journaling prompt, "If I were honest with myself..." So I said, "If I were honest with myself, I'd admit that I'm a camera hog. And rather than TAKE the pictures, I need to be IN them more..."

I learned my lesson, when I handed Josh the camera this summer and he said, "I don't know how to use this thing!!!" Guess since I got it back in Novemeber, I haven't let him "play" with it yet. Oops! I'll try to do better....

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Now for the announcements!



First up, this weekend Serendipity Scrapbooks is having a CROP! And it's not just any crop but a "Happily Ever After" DISNEY-themed crop! These challenges are sooo much fun, and I can't wait to see how everyone does with them! So hop on over to the Serendipity forum this weekend to get your fill of Disney movies and character challenges!

Also, it's not too late to participate in the Color Me Daisy "Celebrate" blog hop challenges! You have until Friday, August 21st to get your projects in!!! See this post for more information.

And lastly, Kari from Urban Anthology just posted the preview for the UA September kit and here it is!!!

mmmm....Some October AFternoon...Sassafras "Monstersosity"....

That's about it for today! Hope you have a good one! :D

Lots of projects with some Nikki Sivils

This week the DT over at Nikki Sivils is hosting a card challenge. It's so fun to see all the different cards, and there's so much inspiration too! Here are 2 I created that should be posted later in the week.

"Lucky Me"

For this card I used "Cherry strips 4U" and the stamp set from the My Sweet Cherry Pie line, and "Victoria's Lane" from Victoria's Street, and some red ric rac.

"Party" (invitation)


(inside)

I thought I'd make a cute little party invitation for this one. To make the ice cream cone, I used a Bazzill CS scalloped circle cut in half, then holded in half. I covered it with "Cherry Brownie" on the front and inside too. Then cut a circle from "Victoria's House" to be a minty scoop of ice cream. I cut a small circle out of "Cherry blast" for the cherry, and gave it texture with the cordurory brad. All stamps are from the My Sweet Cherry Pie set.

If you've got some of Nikki's new papers and/or stamps on hand, we'd love to see a card from you too! Just add a link in any of this week's card posts over on Nikki's blog.

And speaking of Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker, I used her "Henry's Brilliance" line for this week's 52sketches sketch.

Here's sketch #33:


And my take was to scap an OLD photo of Josh, "Smarty Pants"



cutie die-cuts:


pencils made of patterned paper:


So there you have it. The Nikki Sivils DT card challenge going on right now, and this week's 52 sketches sketch. And in case you're wondering where the photos of my family are, well, it's volleyball season. I've noticed that I hardly take pictures during volleyball season. (think of it as a little reprieve after a summer with my camera shoved in everyone's face!) I'll do my best to snap a few though. Really, even if I did, they'd be of little girls playing under the bleachers in the gym or of half-clothed kiddos playing "house" in their tent, which is what they're doing right now! Thank goodness for imaginations and that they get along! :D

That's all for now! Have a great day!

Seems like yesterday

(if you're here for the Color Me Daisy blog hop, check out this post)

Seems like yesterday that my babies were teeny tiny. And while they were that small I'm sure I couldn't wait til they got older and could do things on their own. Now, as I see the trail of shredded cheese leading the way from the kitchen to the TV room, I realize my littles ARE able to do stuff for themselves (though sometimes it's stuff I'd rather them NOT do!). My babies are really babies anymore. And then I came across this photo the other day, one of my favorites, and just had to scrap it.

"Seems like yesterday"

I think they were around 4-5 months and 18 months old in that photo. I barely remember those days thanks to the lack of sleep. And I'm not really sure how I "survived" but I did. And it feel like yesterday that they were that little. (sigh.)







I made this LO with Urban Anthology's August kit, "Tea for Two", which is full of October Afternoon and Basic Grey goodies!! Yum! It also has these beautiful butterflies that are solid white. But I found that if you spray them with Glimmer Mist and immediately dab off the excess, you're left with a gorgeous butterfly glitter pattern! I was thrilled to stumble upon this little discovery! ;)

That's all for now! Gotta go get ready for church. I'll be back soon with winners from the Color Me Daisy giveaway! ;) HOpe you're having a great weekend!

Celebrating Color Me Daisy!!

Welcome to the Color Me Daisy blog hop (and crop)! We're CELEBRATING CMD's 1st birthday!!! Wooohoooo!!! We hope you'll join us!!! Michelle is giving away LOTS of prizes so if you didn't start at the beginning, head back to the Color Me Daisy Blog to start on your Celebrate Blog Hop journey!

For this blog hop, each of the Daisy Girls are hosting a challenge based on the theme of "Celebrate". To participation in our celebration, hop to all the blogs, check out all the challenges (and leave comments), and then create your own projects in order to be entered to win! There will be two different drawings, one from all the comments left on the blogs, and the other from those who enter layouts based on the Daisy Girls' challenges by uploading them in the "Celebrate Crop and Blog Hop" folder in the CMD gallery. (hint they must be 200k or less for the gallery)

And now for my challenge, I'm choosing to "Celebrate Summer"!

Here I've created two different multi-photo sketches for you to choose from and show off your favorite summer photos!

Sketch #1


Sketch #2


July 09

I used sketch #1 to create this LO of my favorite July memories. I had soooo many pictures from the summer, that I decided to split them up and do one for each month. For this LO I used supplies from the CMD July kit with the buttons, and ribbon being from my stash. And see those Thickers---they're a part of the newest release and are my FAVORITE! You can find them in the CMD store if I haven't bought them all yet! hehe!

I designed these sketches thinking you'd have as many summer photos as I have (if not more)! I used thumbnails of my most favorite photos, but of course if you don't have that many pictures, you can always throw in some patterned paper instead. To be eligible for the Crop drawing, be sure you upload your take on either one (or both) of these sketches to the CMD gallery with some type of "Celebrate Summer" theme!

Also, leave me a comment here, and you'll be entered in to the drawing for the Blog Hop prizes!!!

Hop around to the other Daisy Girls and leave them some love to be entered too!
Gina Johnson
Melina Borrero
Mara Campbell
Kristii Lockhart
Aimee Kidd

Happy Birthday Color Me Daisy!!!! It's been a wonderful first year! :D :D :D

Some coaching and creating

Well, it's official. Volleyball has started back up, and I'm exhausted. BUT I love it, and this season has great potential to be a really fun season. But like I said, I'm exhausted. This SAHM just isn't used to getting everybody packed up, ready, and to the gym everyday by 10am. We usually go out once or twice a week to run errands, so the everyday thing has been tough. AND we have to pack drinks, snacks, play toys, the portable potty....it's not just getting myself to the gym, but the girls and all their "stuff" too. But I'm not complaining either. It's just going to take a little getting used to. And did I say I think it's going to be a great season? Because I think it is!

Enough about that, let me show you what I do in the evenings! I'm totally a nightowl, and I do most of my scrapping at night. (Well, except for last night, I stayed up WAAAY too late reading...)

Two new LOs for ya. This first one I did as a part of the Treasured Hunt contest over at Treasured Scrapbooking. This first challenge had very basic instructions. 1. Use only one photo. 2. Have torn paper 3. Include a 3" or larger circle 4. The journaling must include the phrase, "I wish someone had told me that..."

"Together"






The second LO is my take on sketch #32 at 52 Sketches 52 Weeks.



"Birthday Girl"


The row of flowers in the original sketch really caught my attention, so I went with that idea, but changed them to cupcake medallions instead. To mimic the scalloped border, I used a snippet of Making Memories velvet ribbon under my title.

Well, that's all for today! Off to go get showered and rested up, but then the pool sounds nice too. Hmmmmm.....decisions, decisions.

Hope you're having a great week!

Color Me Daisy and some 52 too!

Got some layout love for ya! Apparently I haven't shared enough for some people (ahem) and so I've got lots to share now. It's been a busy week, so I'm just now getting around to sharing my projects that I did for Color Me Daisy this month. This kit is called "Celebrate Summer" and it's perfect for just that! I love love love these papers, in fact, I can't get enough of them. I tried to convey the "celebrate summer" theme in my LOs too. Here's what I did.

"Adore"



By now, you should know how much I LOVE SK's hair in piggies. This is still one of my favorite shots of the summer. I souped it up a bit using Picnik, a free photo-editing site. If you haven't tried it, it's cool! Go to the "create" tab after you've uploaded a photo for some neat photo effects.

"Gotcha"

These are some more of my favorite pics from this summer from with cousin David came to stay with us. In the 2 days he was here, he taught the girls how to "pound with explosion", dance to "I like to move it move it!", and he played A LOT of tag. This is the proof. Oh, and ladies, he's single and we're looking for a good catch. Please send your resume (scrapping and otherwise) here. We're taking applications til we find Mrs. Right. (only mostly kidding)

"Summer family"



When you're out of pop-dots, just stack buttons and glue'em together. That's what I did. Heavens knows I've got enough buttons to spare a couple! lol!


With this one I tried Danielle Flanders' fabric covered button technique because this kit comes with 2 awesome (and large) swatches of fabric.

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Lastly, this week's 52 Sketches sketch, #31, was REALLY a love-at-first-sight sorta sketch that I KNEW I just had to try.

Here's the sketch:


And my take, "Second birthday"



I'm still trying to scrap more of SK, and this is my FAVE photo of her taken at her birthday breakfast this Spring. Since her b'day was on a Sunday, we went for Sunday brunch and she requested pancakes, so Cracker Barrel it was!

So there you have it. Most everything I've been working on and putting off uploading until now. Now if I can find wherever I put my creativity and then put it to good use this weekend, I'll be golden. If not, it's gonna be a couple of looong nights!

Hope you have a good one! :D

Happy 60th Dad!

Today's his 60th birthday, and according to him, nothing brings him greater joy than spending time with his granddaughters. And they love their "Bob Bob" too. But then who wouldn't love a big ol' teddy bear of a guy who drives you in to "town" early in the morning and lets you buy whatever candy you want and eat it--FOR BREAKFAST!!

He loves his granddaughters, that's for sure. But then I think they've got him a little wrapped around their fingers. Bob Bob just can't say "no".





But now the granddaughters have some competition, his grandsons! Pretty soon the boys will be big enough to give'em a run for their money.



Happy Birthday Dad! From all of us! ;)